Constituency : Louth 1892-1910
Robert took Louth from the Tories.
Robert was the son of a Methodist preacher. He was educated at Kingswood School and King's College London and became a solicitor, often acting for railway companies. He was in partnership with the Wolverhampton MP Henry Fowler. He was a Methodist lay preacher. He wrote widely about the Methodist church. Robert became a successful businessman through specialising in transport infrastructure projects.
Robert's maiden speech was in favour of a Bill allowing Nonconformists to purchase the freehold of their place of worship. The historian Searle has described him as being "from that wing of the party to which redress of Nonconformist grievances was the only kind of reform that mattered " . Lloyd George said he "talked as if the Nonconformist conscience were locked up in his City safe".
In 1897 Robert proposed a Twentieth Century Fund to finance a huge evangelical and social campaign and build a headquarters in London.
In 1898 Robert urged Rosebery to rule out an independent parliament for Ireland as demanded by Redmond. In a public speech that year he raised the possibility of such a parliament establishing a Catholic university with public funds.
In 1900 Robert set up the Liberal Imperial Council. He was also a member of the Navy League and was elected to its committee in 1909.
Robert was created a baronet in 1908.
In 1909 Robert set up the Nonconformist Anti-Socialist Union with wealthy Methodist businessmen.
Robert stepped down in January 1910. He said of his time in parliament that "there was no period of his life so fruitlessly spent, no time so absolutely wasted". he is said to have declined a peerage.
Robert was interested in homeopathy.
He died in 1934 aged 85.
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